Can Twitter X control journalists and politicians? Andrea Stroppa’s shocking revelation gives pause for thought - IV settimana di marzo 2025
di Claudia Giulia Ferraùto - data 2025
Questo articolo fa parte della Newsletter settimanale “Tech e Privacy”
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Can Twitter X control journalists and politicians? Andrea Stroppa’s shocking revelation gives pause for thought
It’s Saturday, March 22, 2025. I’m getting ready to head out and take one last look at Twitter. At the top of the screen, I spot a Spaces session featuring Andrea Stroppa, a key figure in Elon Musk’s orbit, with a prominent role in Europe, especially Italy. I hesitate, but then I notice some journalists I admire - people I’ve connected with on the platform - among the listeners. Curiosity wins out, and I join. Nicola Porro is interviewing Stroppa: they’re talking about Twitter X, Musk, and Tesla. Then my connection drops, I have to leave, and I close the app. The next day, I return to the audio: it’s still there, recorded on the platform, now heard by thousands. I pick up where I left off. At the 32-minute mark, Stroppa says something that stops me cold. I rewind and listen again. I can’t believe it. In a fleeting moment - maybe a lapse - he drops a bombshell: thanks to his role as a shareholder, he can uncover the identity of any user on X, specifically mentioning anonymous accounts that criticize him. It’s a stark claim, impossible to brush off.
A revelation everyone ignores
It’s explosive news, yet it seems to fly under the radar for the thousands who’ve heard it over two days. Stroppa, Musk’s right-hand man in Italy, hinted he can access users’ sensitive data. The statement hits harder when you consider not just his place in Musk’s inner circle, but also the drastic staff cuts at Twitter X that Musk pushed through after the acquisition. For about three years, we’ve had no clarity on who controls what happens on the platform.
Breaking the news and the shadow ban
I post the story on X with pressing questions, drawing the attention of Italy’s «HERE you can find the audio - it's in Italian (listen to minute 32 - and Europe’s privacy regulators. The tweet goes viral, but as it spreads, something strange happens: at times, it feels like my profile and the tweet are being shadow-banned, a digital tactic that keeps content or accounts technically present but nearly invisible. People reach out through other channels to confirm: “Your tweet’s nowhere to be found, your profile’s gone dark.”
Is it a fluke? Maybe. I don’t know, and neither does anyone else. For too long, we’ve turned a blind eye to what’s happening on the platform - or who on X has access to sensitive info like IP addresses, private messages, login details, phone numbers, emails, and geolocation via the app. We have no idea if there are oversight measures for the technicians who, for security or platform management reasons, can tap into our profiles.
Was Stroppa’s comment a warning to critics? A boast? Or does he really have, as he claims, access to every identity, and thus all our data and messages? Whatever his intent, his ties to Musk and his position make the statement dynamite. And the fact that he hasn’t retracted it five days later only makes it worse. By now, even those who dismissed it as bravado can’t ignore it. This isn’t about him anymore: his words are “a bomb scare at an airport.” Sure, it might be a joke - and let’s hope it is - but first, you verify the facts, secure everything, and only then consider it a prank. There’s little to laugh about here.
The issue isn’t just Stroppa. The real problem is this: if some people on Twitter X can so easily identify anonymous accounts without a trace, we’re facing a devastating privacy breach -one that clashes with GDPR and Italian and European laws. On X, there are politicians, journalists, entrepreneurs, and institutions: if someone can monitor them, it needs to be clarified.
Uncontrolled chaos
Since Musk gutted Twitter’s old structure, chaos has taken over. On other digital platforms, profile access is regulated, tracked, and justified by security or technical needs; abusers face consequences. On X, clear answers are nowhere to be found. Stroppa’s remark, whatever’s behind it, is a chance to shine a light. Italy’s Privacy Authority seems powerless since Twitter is based in Ireland, but that shouldn’t stop it from escalating the issue to the European regulator - and I hope it does.
Political silence and risks to democracy
For now, politicians are mum. Some say no one will act: Musk intimidates even his loudest critics on the platform, while his business ventures tempt too many entrepreneurs. A few try to chalk Stroppa’s comment up to “a joke” to avoid dealing with it. But he hasn’t issued a denial.
Even if Stroppa came out today and said, “I was kidding,” I think this should still be raised in parliament through a formal inquiry - while we wait for the European regulator to step in.
What if politicians and journalists on Twitter X are being monitored? Imagine an inconvenient entrepreneur, journalist, or politician, or one deemed worth befriending, whose details someone wants to uncover, track, and monitor via the Twitter X app. Is that technically possible? If it’s so easy to access identities, and thus data, geolocation, and private messages: who’s protecting citizens?
And if someone points out that Twitter X now offers encryption for users, let’s be clear: it’s only available to paid blue-check subscribers. It’s a flimsy fix that falls apart easily, it works only if everyone in a chat has a blue check. If even one person in a group or a two-way exchange doesn’t, the encryption collapses. And anyway, like all technical aspects of X, it’s unclear how effective it is even among blue-check users.
Days later, my list of questions keeps growing:
Who’s controlling what inside X?
Who’s protecting politicians, entrepreneurs, journalists, in a word, citizens?
Who needs to step in to clarify the workings of this U.S. platform, with its European base in Ireland, operating in Italy? The Postal Police? The government? Are we just waiting for the European regulator?
A call for transparency to safeguard democracy
Without transparency, trust crumbles and democracy with it.
Stroppa’s statement lays bare a structural flaw: who’s watching whom on X? You can’t gamble with data security or ignore privacy risks. This affects everyone, and we deserve a straight answer.
There’s a story here, real news. And the media and politicians are letting it slip by.
Additional Notes:
The first outlet to pick up the story was Start Magazine, a prominent Italian publication known for its coverage of technology and geopolitics. The article can be read HERE. Here’s an excerpt: “What Stroppa said about the trolls insulting him: The remark in question, almost a warning to users, came as Stroppa responded to Nicola Porro’s questions. The journalist had just asked if he was an X shareholder, and his answer suggests that, as such, Musk’s trusted man—who has crossed the threshold of Palazzo Chigi multiple times (not only with Elon but also with his brother Kimbal, always dressed as a cowboy)—has access not just to Italian institutional venues but also to the innermost workings of the U.S. machine. It’s impossible to tell from Stroppa’s usual monotone (...) whether he was joking or not. But if it was a joke, it’s hard to pinpoint the punchline, as it would imply that X has no privacy whatsoever. The only one laughing, it seems, is Stroppa, who dropped that aside (they were discussing something entirely different) as if he meant to send a message to his detractors.
We don’t know if it hit its mark. It certainly didn’t spark the alarm you’d expect (...). Only a few X users - after Claudia Giulia Ferrauto first flagged the gravity of Stroppa’s statement on the platform, breaking the news, appealing to the Italian and European Privacy Authorities, and immediately raising the key questions: ‘If he can access identities that easily, can he also read DMs? (That seems like the least of it.) Was it a throwaway line? Was he serious? Was it a threat to everyone? Was he joking, but no one laughed? His tone, either way, was dead serious’- picked up and shared the words of SpaceX’s Italian point man with astonishment. Stroppa has been a frequent topic in Rome’s halls of power, especially regarding Starlink and the risks some fear of foreign ears listening in if the Italian government were to award the contract to the U.S. private company.”
Later, Dagospia, one of Italy’s most-read outlets - perhaps the most-read among top politicians and financiers - covered it. The piece is HERE. An excerpt:“What did the ‘hacker from Torpignattara’ mean when he said, ‘It’s great when they insult me on X with anonymous accounts... I could find them’? Was he referring to his hacking skills, or does his closeness to Musk grant him special ‘privileges’? Stroppa, chatting with Nicola Porro, also admitted to being an X shareholder: does that status come with access to private information? That wouldn’t be ethical or legal.”
Independent analyst, I work with a passion for truth and information, protected by Article 21 of the Constitution. Registered with the Order of Journalists after my traineeship, I chose to deregister for ethical consistency due to experiences with institutional figures. Graduated with honors in Architecture and Urban Planning, I honed my analytical skills through professional studios, shipyards, and technological research. I have contributed articles and analyses to publications such as Il Foglio, L’Espresso, and Il Sole 24 Ore. For three years, I have been curating a technology column within the spaces of the Istituto Bruno Leoni, exploring themes of innovation and analysis. Co-author and editor of the book Artificial Intelligence: What It Really Is, with a foreword by Piero Angela, published by Bollati Boringhieri
